A ninth-inning rally was not enough to overcome a pitching meltdown in the middle innings. Key Lines:
Luis Arraez 2B- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .326. 7-game hit streak with two consecutive 2-hit games. Arraez has gone hitless in just 2 of 23 games in June and has a .337 BA for the month.
Heliot Ramos RF- 1 for 4, HR(5), R, RBI. BA= .267. Wait! Ramos only has 5 HR's on the season? I guess he's been out since 5/15. Anyway, his solo HR led off the top of the 9'th inning.
Bryce Eldridge DH- 2 for 4, R. BA= .285. Just when you think the league has figured him out, he gets two hits.
Victor Bericoto LF- 2 for 3, 2B. BA= .286. A nice night at the plate for Bericoto was marred by a pick off....with a runner ahead of him at 2B.
Tyler Mahle RHP- 4.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 5.67. Mahle gave up a leadoff HR to Ketel Marte in the first inning but then settled down until loading the bases in the 5'th. Sam Hentges came in and promptly gave up a 3-run double. After the game, Mahle said he pitched around Marte for the final baserunner and added he did not realize he was on a strict pitch count of 85. Say what? OK, it is probably highly debatable whether he should have pitched around Marte and maybe the coaching staff didn't want him to know he was on a pitch count for that reason(although there are plenty of ways to communicate to a pitcher you want a batter pitched around). But this is only one of a lengthening line of miscommunication issues for this team and that goes straight to the Manager's office.
Landen Roupp RHP tries to even the series tonight against TBD.
Walking Marte this series is a good idea. Mahle is a still a strong DFA candidate in August as we give guys like Whisenhunt a look.
ReplyDeleteAgree, but why wait until August? Which Carson to bring up, tho?
DeleteHonestly, I’ve only heard complaints from struggling frustrated veterans playing terribly (Houser, Mahle, Ray before he turned things around). At least two of those guys will be gone probably before the season ends and Houser is a likely trade candidate in the off season just because he sucks and is a waste of a roster spot
ReplyDeleteStruggling vets aside, which as SteveVA points out below points the finger at Posey, I don't see how anyone can watch this team day in and day out and conclude that Tony Vitello isn't way over his head as manager.
DeletePosey will probably give Tony V a contract extension as a sign of confidence.
DeleteTony V should have never been hired but, Buster is the one to blame the most. Eldridge, Bericoto and Cox who are Farhan prospects are outperforming Drew Gilbert.
DeleteEldridge was a high first round draft pick, a top 100 prospect and a completely different type of player than Gilbert so I am no sure why you make that comparison. Bericoto still has an extremely small sample size. I dispute that Cox, who is 1 for 10 over his last 7 games, is outperforming Gilbert who is .270/.362/.418 against RHP's which fits well with his likely future as a platoon CF. But it is good to see all 3 of them contributing.
DeleteAgree Mahle's complaint sounded like sour grapes, blown a little out of proportion since he ended up taking partial blame. It's sad the main reason they're letting him start is to trade him later.
DeleteWhile TonyV is definitely still learning being a MLB manager and a questionable hire. I wonder If a veteran manager could do much better, due to roster deficiency, poor start by vets, including Logan Webb. But he does have Jayce Tingler, and Ron Washington both former mlb managers on staff. Bruce Bochy managed teams with ok/below average rosters to losing records
DeleteJust to clarify I'm in a wait and see mode with TonyV. , he's been manager.for only 1/2 a season., but it's unfair to hire hiin and expect fans to be patient while he's learning the job.. To be fair, I'm not sure if a veteran coaching staff could overcome this rosters deficiencies. If ownership doesn't want to give multi-year contracts to high end arms, please start acquiring pitchers whio throw 95-100 mph thru the draft or trade. Maybe they need to tweak their philosophy on the type of pitchers they acquire.
DeleteI"m pretty sure Tony Vitello was not hired to spend a year learning on the job, not with a roster full of veteran players making 8 digit yearly salaries. This season is an unmitigated disaster by any measure. The fact a veteran manager would likely not win with this roster is not an excuse for the long and growing list of obvious poor on-field decisions, reported miscommunications and general "deer in the headlights" looks we see out of the manager's office. At the very least, if I hired a manager with a Masters degree in management I would expect them to be able to implement basic QM principles in their communication regime which based on the Mahle incident does not appear to be the case.
DeleteAnd if you see something in Tony Vitello that makes you think he is growing or can grow into the job, then by all means, keep him around for next season but personally I can't say I am seeing that potential.
DeleteDoc, I'll agree with you on the poor on field decision making. I've watched or listened to most games, but don't get a chance to watch daily like you do, don't know how you do it. Don't think it's Tony V's fault that the veteran hitters started slowly, Webb wasn't healthy for the 1st 2 months. But bottom line it'll come down to the Giants record as to whether he gets let go, fair or not. As mentioned not sure if a veteran manager could do any better with this rosters deficiencies especially on the pitching side. I've always thought the manager doesn't make that much of a difference in the win loss record in the regular season , it's mostly on the players. But what do i know.. I've never understood Melvins firing either. Seems like everyone knew the bullpen would be a big question mark going into the season, and that's the main area that Tony V would be looked at. It seemed like he was setup to fail in that area, but is looking a little more settled with Killian as closer. TonyV was signed to a 3 year contract give him a chance.. I know fans are skeptical since he came straight from college. I thought he handled the Devers incident OK. As for communication/PR I've commented in the past that this org has made unforced errors in the past, starting with Greg Johnsons comments about wanting to break even.
DeleteOn the bright side, ARRAEZ is a hitting machine and hopefully fetches a haul in the next month. And you gotta love what Bericotto, Eldridge and Cox are showing..
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest, been trying to keep a lid on my negativity of this team and not spread it here..but..spot on about the Manager and his communication and strategy issues...Both highlighted in last night's game with Mahle's confusion and the choice of bringing in Henteges and his lack of control in that moment. Plain and simple, VITELLO does not know how to manage a team and club house of professional ball players.
Then again there was no way in hades he should have been hired. EVERYTHING about this ML team lies at the feet of POSEY. Every move (SP, OF) or non move (bull pen) he made in the off season outside of ARRAEZ (thank god for him!) contributed to this abject failure of a team. Oh well, broken record.
And then you have the maddening but expected inconsistencies of the Big Three core vets of Devers, Adames and Chapman that really give this team no chance. Hopefully, one or more of them can be dealt by the deadline .
SteveVA
100% minus a little: Devers is on a pretty good "tear" this month, and especially the last 14 games, Giants are 7-7 with Devers .294/.357/.667/1.024
DeleteHard to argue with this. The shortcomings of Chapman and Adames were clear before their big-money, no-trade commitments, but most assumed that Buster knew something that others didn’t. Turned out not to be so. The Devers trade was popular and I think the jury remains out. But the Vitello thing appears to have been too clever by half. I’d have hired Wotus, but what do I know.
DeleteChapman is getting his numbers up plus he is such an asset at 3B.
DeleteAdames is the big question, and maybe Bader – the Giants have at least 2 kids who play a mean CF.
What pitcher would bother to throw a hit-able pitch to Adames – does he have any concept of the strike zone?
DeleteWe will find out soon enough whether Jonah Cox is even going to stay in the majors very long after skipping AAA altogether, but, that said, how is Ross Stripling for Cox and cash looking so far?
Can fan sentiment re the Giants' manager, which is pretty negative on this blog and others, put sufficient pressure on Posey to dump his managerial choice?
ReplyDeleteOn KNBR, Slusser put the blame on Mahle for not knowing his pitch count limit. According to her, every pitcher coming off an injury is routinely given by this coaching staff a detailed plan outlining rehab work expectations. She said it's hard to believe Mahle wasn't given such a plan, including basics like pitch count limits covering the next several games. She said this wasn't a matter of miscommunications, more an issue of Mahle not paying attention to his coaches' instructions and guidance.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly you evaluate decisions at the time, not by the results.
DeleteWas it time to take Mahle out? Possibly, maybe probably, given the situation.
Of course, you never know what might have been, but Hentges seemed to be a good choice.
It blew up so there's lots of 2nd guessing.
It's frustrating to fans because it seems to happen much too much.
Is it the manager? Jumping to MLB from a college career might be harder for managers than players, and not many, if any, can do that.
It will take time.
He probably didn't even know the players' first names.
Does he get a whole year to figure this out?
Doesn't Posey have to let him try?
Do the players like it?
Preseason, only us homies thought the Giants had a chance to go to the playoffs, much less win.
Who thought they would even be .500+ since they didn't really try to fill the pitching deficiencies, starters or relievers.
We are forever optimistic.
The Giants with a win will finish June @ .500 for the month, not to shabby for a team that was 13 under at the end of May.
Still 78 games to go...
Just to be clear, I am not second guessing the decision to take Mahle out nor the decision to put Hentges in. I would not even be alarmed over a single episode of apparent(alleged) miscommunication. It's the growing list of reported miscommunication issues that are concerning. When I worked in the field of medical quality I used to say one mistake could be a fluke but two is a trend and three is a pattern. When you see or hear about multiple episodes of similar communication breakdowns, something is off and needs to have a root-cause analysis and corrective action taken.
DeleteAnd again, based on my experience in medical quality, simply giving player a detailed written rehab plan then assuming he read every word is not adequate communication. An effective communication regimen would include verbal reminders at critical points along the way. I guarantee a good communicating team would have had a coach verbally remind Mahle either in the clubhouse before or during warmups that he was on a pitch limit.
Delete